Suzanne Stabile, Co-founder and Animator of Life in the Trinity Ministry, was first approached by a veteran who was attending an Enneagram workshop in Austin, Texas in the spring of 2010. Based on the insights and encouragement gained from participation in this Enneagram workshop, this veteran suggested that the lessons learned from Enneagram teachings could be a significant help to military veterans of every era and combat experience.
The Enneagram is an ancient personality-typing tool that has been utilized for self-knowledge and understanding, dating back some 3,000 years. Helpful to all who encounter it, the Enneagram helps students to:
· Understand the predictable, yet unique ways that each of us respond to the events of our lives
· Understand the underlying motivations for our behavior
· Understand how to better communicate our needs and motivations to others who do not share our personality type
· Understand and accept ourselves, in terms of our individual personality and motivations
· Understand and respond more productively to our unique way of “being in the world”
· Understand how to recognize and avoid the challenges that accompany each of our unique personality types
There are Nine Personality Types described in Enneagram teaching. Each of these Nine Types responds differently to life events in times of stress, and in times of security. Each of the Nine Types interact differently with the other types on the Enneagram, with unavoidable implications for social and family relationships during times of extreme stress.
On September 11, 2010, LTM co-sponsored the first “Leaving the War Behind” workshop with First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas. The event was attended by combat veterans from every war since the Korean War. Utilizing the Enneagram as the basis for curriculum and discussion, the workshop participants found a meaningful context in which to share their individual experiences with war and its aftermath.
Without exception, veterans who attended the workshop reported that they related to their Enneagram personality type as expressed in times of extreme stress. The workshop discussion was designed so as to provide veterans a means of communicating their experience in ways that had previously been unavailable to them, providing tools that helped with their re-acclamation to “civilian life.”